FEDS TAKE BOND MONEY FROM KMART CASH REGISTERS

For Louis Eso, a shopping trip to Kmart was like a ride back in time to the Wild, Wild West.

With the power of a court order behind them, U.S. marshals raided two stores in Hollywood and Davie, Fla. taking $45,000 in cash from the registers. They left behind the coins and checks.

"Jesse James held up a train and counts his money in the woods," said Eso, 73, who was shopping with his wife at the Hollywood store.

"These guys counted it on the counter in the front of everybody."

The raids were unorthodox but perfectly legal.

A court clerk gave the go-ahead for lawyers to collect the money after Kmart failed to post the required $2 million bond in an age-discrimination lawsuit. Company officials were outraged.

"I would have to think our federal marshals would have other activities they could be attending to rather than this charade," said Shawn Kahle, a spokeswoman for the Troy, Mich.-based department store chain.

In August, a federal jury awarded three former Kmart pharmacists in the Miami area $2.17 million in back pay and damages. The jury found that Kmart engaged in age discrimination when it began a program to bring in a younger management team to fill the positions of pharmacists, store managers and others.

U.S. District Judge C. Clyde Atkins lowered the verdict to $920,000 plus lawyers' and court fees.

Atkins agreed to stop the three plaintiffs from collecting while the case is under appeal, but Kmart had to post a $2 million bond in case it should lose.

When the bond paid wasn't posted by Monday afternoon, the court clerk issued a writ and ordered U.S. marshals to collect. Lawyers for the pharmacists met with the marshals and decided to execute the raid Monday night on the two stores, about 25 miles north of Miami. The stores were chosen because they were closest to the marshals' homes; they had no connection to the age-discrimination case.

The marshals and local police spoke to the managers and collected the cash. The stores stayed open during the raids, but customers had to pay with credit cards, checks or exact change.

Kmart paid the $2 million bond in time to avoid a third raid, planned for Tuesday.